The HEA Cafe

I started this discussion over at the AlienRomances blog and had some terrific answers. So I thought I’d give you all a chance to respond, too, amending it a bit as this isn’t strictly an SFF/SFR site:

Writing a book isn’t easy. But combining more than one plot line–which romance novels do more and more these days–can be killer. You have your romance arc and your suspense arc. Or you have your romance arc and your SFF arc. Or you have your romance arc and your inspirational/religious arc. Or…

So why do we do it? What drives reasonably-minded authors to spend the time penning novels that are sometime a precarious balancing act? The old adage is that writers write because they can’t NOT write. But certainly, we could (and some of us do) write other genres.

So here’s my challenge to published authors:Your name:
Your website:

Your name:Your website:Post your answer in ONE sentence:

I write [fill in your genre] because [fill in one short reason why–your best reason, your strongest reason].

Then answer this:

If readers could read only one book of mine, I think it should be: [title] because [one short reason why.]

I’ll start.

Name: Linnea Sinclair
website: http://www.linneasinclair.com/

I write science fiction romance because I love the vast possiblities, conflicts and love stories that can be explored in cultures and worlds that may not be like our own.

If readers could read only one book of mine, I think it should be FINDERS KEEPERS because it’s an accurate melding of SF and romance in a light, fast-paced and fun way.

(Wow, that last one was tough and I invented the dang question!)

So authors–post your answers! And readers, feel free to comment and tell the authors if you feel they’re on-point.

~Linnea
SHADES OF DARK, the sequel to Gabriel’s Ghost, coming July 2008 from RITA award-winning author, Linnea Sinclair, and Bantam Books: http://www.linneasinclair.com/

“Four and 1/2 Stars! Chaz and Sully are back, and their lives haven’t gotten any easier! Picking up after Gabriel’s Ghost, the singularly impressive Sinclair thrusts her dynamic lovers into a maelstrom of trouble. The first-person, high-octane action is exhilarating. When it comes to futuristic romance, it doesn’t get better than Sinclair! ” –Romantic Times BOOKreviews magazine

A popular romance review site hands out its “Desert Isle Keeper” designation for those books it deems a romance reader would want to have in her possession when stranded on a desert isle (personally, I’d eschew the romance novel and opt for a book entitled “How To Get Rescued Quickly And How To Survive Until You Do” but I understand and appreciate the sentiment, especially as I’ve had a few of my books snag the coveted “DIK” tag).

Be that as it may, I’ve compiled my list of Desert Isle Keeper writing books. If I were stranded on an island (with electricity and internet access) and was on deadline, what how-to tomes would I want by my side? Here’s my list. Post yours!

1. Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V Swain

2.  The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes by Jack Bickham

3. Beginnings, Middles and Ends by Nancy Kress

4. GMC: Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon

5. Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne and King

If I could bring only one, it would be Swain. Yeah, okay, I’m a devoted Swain-ite. But his advice speaks to me, works for me.

What books have made a difference in your writing and why? ~Linnea

I generally avoid Amazon. It’s infested with trolls and has brought new lows to the meaning of “customer service.” For starters. Be that as it may, though, when a fan points me to a thread in the romance community there, I feel obliged to at least look so I can comment on it.

What I found more interesting than the positive comment on my books was the trend taken by posters to that community that authors need to have thick skins. Now, two days ago I could have navigated you to the exact comment/thread. But two days ago my Dell desktop imploded, and two-hundred dollars and two days later, it’s in recovery mode via the Carbonite online backup service, with 38,128 files yet to go. So you’ll have to trust me that there is a thread that states that. It was in response, if memory serves me, to Amazon’s removal of certain negative reviews.

The consensus seemed to be that negative reviews are part and parcel of an author’s lot and authors needed to grow thicker skins.

I’m going to disagree and I’ll tell you why.

1 - A percentage of what’s posted on Amazon as “reviews” aren’t. They’re at best comments and at worst, the useless spewings by people with far too much time on their hands. I am not talking about those comments that are obviously reviews, posted by people associated with review sites. I’m not talking about customer comments that are mature and well thought out, even if they dislike a book. I’m talking about senseless emotional spewings and some very nonsensical postings.

2 - The fact that Amazon is infested by trolls–people whose sole interest is stirring up controversy–has been documented by bloggers and in the media. Like the “Yale-ees” who used to concoct crazy letters to try to stump Ann Landers, there are internet users out there who want to see how far they can push the envelope, and how big a brouhaha they can spawn. Amazon is only one of many places they surface.

3 - Why does being an author make you fodder for personal attack? I know books have long been reviewed publically. Again, I’m not talking about reviews. I’m talking about spewings. So why does being an author mean it’s okay for someone to spew on you? Because your work is visible?

A lot of people’s works are visible.

Let’s try this scenario. You’re a sales clerk in the jewelry department in Macy’s. You’re certainly visible to anyone who walks through the store. What if people in the store followed you around with signs that read: “This clerk is slow and stupid”? Or “This clerk doesn’t smile enough” or “This clerk smiles too much”? 

Hey, you’re in public. I’m a customer (maybe or maybe not–Amazon doesn’t require that you’ve bought the book you’re “reviewing”). I have a right to tell people what I think of your service.

Oh, let’s add another sign: “This clerk smiles too much and the jewelry she sells is ugly.”

By the end of the day, just how would you, the sales clerk, feel? Frustrated, annoyed, confused? Let’s say you ask the sign-carrier to leave. You get the store security to tell the person to leave. Next thing you know, the sign-carrier is back with ten cohorts. I’ll bet you dollars to donuts eight of the ten never bought a piece of jewelry in their lives, let alone from you, the Macy’s clerk. But now you have eleven sign-carriers: This clerk is stupid! If you buy something from this clerk you’re an idiot! Whoever taught this clerk to sell should be shot!

And so on and so forth.

Are you beginning to get my point?

Please note, I’m not saying books shouldn’t be reviewed. I’m saying authors shouldn’t be expected to like being spewed on. There is a huge difference.

A series of one-star ratings on Amazon–and gee, isn’t it something that they all show up within a day or so of each other–saying little more than “this book sucks” are yes, spewing and yes, useless. I’m also very suspicious of “reviews” where the plot is misrepresented, characters’ names are wrong and the “reviewer” can neither spell nor form a coherent sentence. I don red this book last nite and it sux is not a review.

Vendettas are also not reviews. People who think books with vampire protagonists are the work of the devil. People who think a romance plot line is disgusting. People who think author X is better than author Y, and so go to author Y’s page and load on the one-star reviews. People who dislike a reviewer and so go to every book page where that reviewer posts and start a flame war.

So how thick is your skin? Mine’s sufficiently thick but I’m not going to tolerate being a doormat for rude behavior, and I don’t think my being an author means I have to. I have no problem with constructive criticism. I do have a serious problem with people who equate internet access with the right to spew.

~Linnea
www.linneasinclair.com

It’s the silly season again, which means conventions and conferences are in full bloom. But there is none more silly, nor more worthwhile, than the Romantic Times BOOKlover’s Convention. And no, it’s not the cover models. It’s the readers. The booksellers. The chance to connect in person with authors you’ve only emailed over the years. It’s the readers.

Okay, the cover models help.

I directly credit RT for my career. I directly credit them with putting this then-small/e-press author in touch with NY authors, who in their delightful generosity, inquired as to my career and how they could help.

Okay, it was Robin Owens. Mega-smoochies to an author who is not only a superb storyteller but one class act. Without Robin’s intervention (it was over drinks in the bar–why does that NOT surprise anyone?) I’d not be a happy Bantam author today.

But it’s also Cathy Clamp and Susan Grant. J.C. Wilder (Gawd, I love that woman!) and Janet Miller. Colby Hodge. Isabo Kelly. Susan Kearney. Catherine Asaro. Bonnie Vanak. CT Adams, Rowena Cherry and Stacey Klemstein. Liddy Midnight, Denise Agnew, Lynne Connolly, Cindy Dees and Rae Monet. Christina Skye, Jade Lee… the list is endless. Do you notice the mix of NY and small pressies? Ain’t that great?

RT is an author- and reader-fest. Egos are left outside and butterscotch martinis make dozens of friends. To me, it’s simply the best party on the planet.

This year marks author Lisa Shearin’s first RT. (What? You haven’t read her? Get thee to a bookstore!) Ann Aguirre will also be on my Science Fiction and Fantasy Romance panel. Her Grimspace will knock your readerly socks off.

Wednesday at 3:30pm is the (second) opening of my Intergalactic Bar & Grille. Bigger and better than last year. Ever wanted to be in the cantina scene in Star Wars? Don’t miss this party.

My flight heads out Sunday morning as, along with Stacey Klemstein, I’m teaching several workshops at the pre-con writer track. If you’re there, come say hey. If you’re not, mark your calendar for next year’s RT in Orlando.

It only gets better.

~Linnea

Linnea Sinclair
www.linneasinclair.com 
RITA(c) Award Winning SF Romance from Bantam Spectra
2007-08: GAMES OF COMMAND,  THE DOWN HOME ZOMBIE BLUES, SHADES OF DARK 

Coming 2009: HOPE’S FOLLY

I’m hip deep in galley edits and far too brain-weary to be pithy today. So I rummaged around some old files in my computer’s hard drive and found a poem I wrote eons ago. Which is a bit of fun. It was written when I still lived in NJ (yeah, that long ago) and our house was heated by oil, which was delivered by truck at the beginning of the winter. I put this in as explanation because those of you in the southern climes (as I am now) will have no clue as to the reference to an ‘oil  man’–which is not some wealthy Texan, no. He’s the guy who delivers the heating oil. 

THE SWEET SMELL OF 

The oilman smells of oil. 
Do I smell of words? 
Idle notions, vague ideas occur 
to mingle with events. 
Plots of stories hammer down my fence 
at night, to scatter 
at the light of day. 
All that lingers, my heroine’s sweet scent. 
Adventure-tinged, unpretentious. 

By noon, 
paragraphs unfurl their punguent plumes. 
A touch of sandalwood and spearmint. 
Practicality flees the room, 
the stench too powerful. 
A fantasy bouquet, 
Essence of Over-Active Imagination 
pervades. 

Then, when all good people lie abed, 
content to seek their rest, 
I’m besotted by my pen’s perfume, 
“Eau de Chapters”. A strong incense 
intoxicates my mind 
as my hero’s masculine scent assails me, 
and I breathe my stories
into life.  

~Linnea

Linnea Sinclair
www.linneasinclair.com 
RITA(c) Award Winning SF Romance from Bantam Spectra
2007-08: GAMES OF COMMAND,  THE DOWN HOME ZOMBIE BLUES, SHADES OF DARK
Coming 2009: HOPE’S FOLLY